Not even advertiser Kathy Duva has any suspicion of what’s in store from her long-lasting charge, previous light heavyweight titlist Sergey Kovalev, when he enters the ring as a cruiserweight.
Kovalev will break an almost three-year nonattendance from boxing when he takes on Tervel Pulev on May 14 in a 10-round cruiserweight (200-lb limit) session in the headliner of a Trill Fight Club pay-per-view show at The Forum in Los Angeles. The battle will stamp Kovalev’s presentation at the weight class and will likewise be whenever he first has pulled back from the light heavyweight positions.
The 38-year-old Kovalev, who has had his reasonable part of out-of-the-ring inconveniences lately (he confessed to rape claims in 2020), last battled in November of 2019, when he got taken out by Canelo Alvarez in the eleventh round of their 12-round light heavyweight title session. From that point forward, the Russian local has had a few cut short endeavors to reappear the ring. Most remarkably, his planned battle against Uzbek prospect Bektemir Melikuziev last January turned out to be dropped after Kovalev tried positive for a prohibited substance. Before that, in April of 2020, Kovalev was set to confront veteran 175-pounder Sullivan Barrera, yet that battle was abandon in view of the novel Covid.
Discuss Kovalev’s weight inconveniences have been coursing for a long while, returning to his combative two sessions with Andre Ward, who crushed him in the two challenges.
Duva, who has advanced Kovalev for almost 10 years, said the Canelo battle was the tipping direct in Kovalev’s choice toward at long last move up in weight, adding that the move could end up being splendid – or an absolute bust.
“Sergey had concluded that he needed to take a leap,” Duva told FightHype.com. “Making 175 was depleting. You could see it. He was ahead on one of the cards in the Canelo battle. Then, at that point, out of nowhere, blast. All things considered, that happens when you have nothing left, in a real sense. We will see. This leap in weight can either be incredible for him or it very well may be dreadful. We truly don’t have the foggiest idea what it will be. In any case, he needs to make it, he needs to attempt.”
Should Kovalev (34-4-1, 29 KOs) rout Pulev (16-0, 13 KOs) – the more youthful sibling Kubrat Pulev – as he is supposed to, Duva will attempt to get him in line for a shot at a cruiserweight title, meaning he should overcome one of the accompanying: South Africa’s Ilunga Makabu (WBC), France’s Arsen Goulamirian (WBA), Latvia’s Mairis Briedis (IBF), or England’s Lawrence Okoli (WBO).
“Assuming he wins this battle the objective is to get him into a cruiserweight title battle at the earliest opportunity,” Duva said. “In any case, first you need to become accustomed to having a greater body, used to preparing not to get thinner yet to construct muscle, which is something contrary to what he’s been doing.
“He was losing muscle to make weight somewhat recently or so he was battling at 175. This will be an extraordinary chance for him to make that large number of changes. He had a decent two years to develop into this weight which I think has been an advantage. Eventually, nothing has really any meaning aside from what he does on May fourteenth.”
